The incidence of head and neck cancer (HNC) in Brazil has increased substantially in recent years. This increase is likely to be strongly associated with alcohol and tobacco consumption, but genetic susceptibility also should be investigated in this population. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association of polymorphisms in genes of alcohol metabolism enzymes and the risk of HNC.
Chronic alcohol intake increased approximately four times the risk of HNC. The mutant genotype ADH1B Arg48His was more frequent in controls (12.7%) than HNC patients (5.8%) conferring protection for the disease . Similar results were observed for individuals with ADH1B*2 or ADH1B*2/ADH1C*1 mutated haplotypes. Multiple regression analyses showed that individuals with the mutant genotype ADH1B Arg48His who consume alcohol >30 g/L/day have more than four times the risk for HNC .
The fast alcohol metabolizing genotypes may prevent HNC when the amount of alcohol intake is <30.655>
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